Aria's new modules back in the library: Modulus Salomonis Regis, Quatherina's Quality Quad Quantizer

My previous module release broke the library! Maybe you’ve seen Quatherina the Quantum Duck presents Quatherina’s Quality Quad Quantizer, but didn’t want to bother with a manual installation. Well, after three weeks, we’ve managed to troubleshoot library integration: it’s ready for automatic download right from your Rack!

But what I’m even excited to get into your hands today is a whole new module. One with, sadly, a simpler name than my previous one:

Modulus Salomonis Regis

Modulus Salomonis Regis is a faithful reproduction of a vintage hardware module created in 949 BC by Solomon, son of David, King of Israel.

Self-patching is the primary way of patching Modulus Salomonis Regis. By self-patching outputs back to inputs, you draw sigils on the surface of the module. Should your sigil be well-conceived, you will conjure great wisdom and grand knowledge of the arts.

Modulus Salomonis Regis is much less intimidating than it looks like, and it comes with a manual I put a lot of work into, which I’m sure will help you get you started.

In fact, instead of showcasing first one of my many many test patches (I’ve put 'em all at the end of the post), I’m gonna show you how easy to get started, by building a patch from scratch in front of you in a matter of minutes:

Modulus Salomonis Regis has two variants, with 4 and 16 nodes, but I suggest you try the 8 step version first.

I’ve played with it a lot in between the time I finished it and the time my modules re-integrated the library (with @cschol and @jerrysv’s help). I feel I’ve barely started to discover this new module’s potential: I can’t wait to see what you’re gonna do with it!
And for that reason, feature requests for Modulus Salomonis Regis will not be accepted for a few months: let’s see what the design allow us to do rather than fix what it isn’t meant to do.

New documentation

I want my modules to be beginner-friendly, and my Github documentation wasn’t that enticing, so I’ve made a separate site for it, and revised all the documentation for existing modules.

I’m particularly happy how I’m showing you exactly which jack does what as you scroll through the pages.

Be sure to check it out - I’m sure you’ll learn something new about the old modules.

Quatherina the Quantum Duck presents Quatherina’s Quality Quad Quantizer

It was already released over two weeks ago, but most of you don’t care to install modules manually, so now that my modules are up to date on the library again, for most of you, it will be your first time getting access to it.

Quatherina the Quantum Duck is best known for her aventures in the Quartz Quasar, in the Quaint Quarry, in the Quarrelsome Quahaug Quagmire, in the Quarantined Quaestor Quadripoint, and in Canada (the canonicity of that last adventure being a point of debate amongst Quatherina’s fans that I wish to remain neutral about).

To finance her adventuring lifestyle, she has graciously accepted payment (in the form of an undisclosed tonnage of Quaker Oats) to lend her name and likeness in endorsement of my synthesizer modules.

Quatherina the Quantum Duck presents Quatherina’s Quality Quad Quantizer is a quantizer: it coerces any input signal into the closest pitch of the scale, and outputs it as a V/Oct signal.

It has way too many features: Scaling, Offset, Sample & Hold / Track & Hold, Output visualization, Scene memory, Pasting chords in leadsheet notation (such as G am B E/G# ). Check out the documentation for details. I hope it’s going to become your new go-to module for quantization!

New in this version of QQQQ: right-click menu option to advance scenes via trigs rather than continuous voltage. Also, bugfixes.

Introducing Poly External Scales

In my modules, I frequently make use of the ability to quantize to a scale or chord, using a polyphonic cable to transfer external scales between devices.

The format is really simple, because I want you to be able to split the cables and hack the data. 12 channels, 12 notes, channel >= 0.1 means the note is enabled. Simple as.

I am calling it a Poly External Scale. If other people want to interoperate with it, better to have a neutral name rather than “Compatible with Aria’s modules”, right?

The spec is still a draft. The devil is in the implementation details. You can react in this development thread.

More things that make sounds/noises you can click on

I am going back to sleep good night. (it is the title of the beat in question)

Turing Machine + iggy.labs’ more.ideas + Quatherina’s Quality Quad Quantizer extrapolating harmonically related material


Toccata and Fugue in C minor for the Orchestra Hit instrument

Modulus Salomonis Regis does this higher pitched lead that comes in sometimes, with subtle variations, while QQQQ keeps everything somewhat in tune.


Modulus Salomonis Regis Test Beat

A few repeats of a simple and efficient Modulus Salomonis Regis generative loop


Solomon’s House

Live patching the module in the middle of the song to make a stable pattern go crazy.


The Song of Quatherina

Performed by Quatherina the Quantum Duck in front of a live audience of me.

11 Likes

Aria, haven’t had a chance to dig in, but started reading the manual and it is a wonderfully written example of how to put together documentation with practical examples on how to use it. Can’t emphasize enough how important that is and just wanted to say kudos for a job well done on that!

4 Likes

I’m patching and reading the manual right now, and it’s awesome! This is so well explained that an idiot could understand, and that appealed to me, for whatever reason… :upside_down_face: That’s some seriously top notch design.

4 Likes

Amazing work Aria! Kudos all round for concept, design and documentation.

You are right that they perhaps look more difficult on first glance than they really are and therefore the excellent documentation really helps and is well worth the effort you clearly put into it.

Excited to try these out!

1 Like